Apple will be building a massive $1 billion expansion of its Reno data center, five years after it first opened the Nevada facility. The expansion will provide 100 new jobs in the region, while construction will add an extra 300 temporary positions.

“We’re excited to be increasing our contributions to the local economy with an additional $1 billion investment to expand our data center and supporting facilities,” said Apple spokesperson John Rosenstock.

Apple is taking another big step to make sure it can utilize 100 percent renewable energy for its operations by expanding the solar farm it uses in Nevada.

The company revealed today that it has reached an agreement with NV Energy to add infrastructure that will generate 200 megawatts of additional solar energy by 2019. Energy created by the project will go to power Apple’s Reno data center, but some of the power will also be available to residents.

Apple isn't making iCloud servers in the US. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple says it has no plans to manufacture high-tech servers in the USA, despite a recent report claiming the iPhone-maker applied for permission to do “high-tech manufacturing” at its site in Mesa, Arizona.

The Mesa center was previously the home of Apple’s ex-sapphire supplier that went bankrupt in 2014. Instead of seeking permission to manufacture on the site, Apple clarified that it is actually just applying to renew the original Foreign Trade-Zone status of the location that brings some big tax benefits.

The fate of Apple’s proposed data center in Ireland is finally on the fast-track.

After facing an 18-month delay due to an appeal from two Irish residents, Ireland’s High Court agreed to Apple’s request to speed up the legal process. Now instead of waiting until 2018, the court has to resolve the case within six months.

Apple's proposed data center as it will eventually appear. Photo: Apple

After a period of delays and an official hearing with Irish regulatory body An Bord Pleanála, Apple has finally been given permission to move ahead with its 500-acre data center site near the west coast of Ireland.

Apple’s case was heard back in May this year, but it took until recently for inspector Stephen Kay to submit his recommendations to the Irish advisory board about the $960 million project.

Concerns about the effect Apple’s massive Irish data center will have on badger and bat populations may have momentarily suspended the company’s plans, but Apple representatives have assured locals the $950 million project will be largely invisible.

Robert Sharpe, Apple’s senior director of global data center services appeared at a hearing in Galway County this week to address concerns about the 500 acre data center and revealed why it’s so important to Apple’s expansion plans in Europe.

As part of a hearing concerning its proposed 850 million euro ($960 million) data center in Athenry, Ireland, Apple has acknowledged that it has no current plans to build power generators on the site, and would therefore be plugging into the Irish national grid.

The result? That according to a residents group, Apple will wind up as the largest private user of electricity in the state, consuming 8 percent of the national capacity — or more than the entire daily power usage of Dublin, which is home to over half a million people.